"Who am I?" "What is the meaning of life?" are the doubts and thoughts that every generation and even every individual will have. The 2015 American film "Paper Towns" addresses these two philosophical questions with the story of a well-behaved boy looking for his missing first love.
The title of the film is translated as "Paper Town", and the imported version in Taiwan is translated as "City on Paper". Margo is a girl with a distinct personality and vitality. She loves to explore and is not afraid of strangers. She tries all kinds of travels and activities. She lives a colorful life. The self, those who deceive themselves, will respond to these deceptions and betrayals with pranks that are characteristic of Margot. Such a girl is destined to fight against ordinary and ordinary life, and also against ordinary and ordinary people. She calls those people in the town who have nothing to do with her to hang up high as paper people, and the weight of paper people's life is paper weights.
The male protagonist Quentin is also a paper man. He lives by the rules, does not touch any red lines, and has a clear plan for his life: go to college, become a doctor, get married and have children before the age of 30.
The fact that two people with such different cognitions grew up from childhood ignorance to adolescence as strangers is a matter of different values rather than the shyness of boys and girls. The teenagers and girls in the film seem to think more and mature than our children of the same age.
When the two were preparing to implement Margot's revenge plan, the psychological distance was infinitely closer. Margot asked Quentin's life plan and asked: go to college, become a doctor, get married and then you will be happy? Quentin never doubted his own life and plans, even if Margot asked questions, encouraged him to be brave, and encouraged him to do things that he had never done before, Quentin was still boring, cautious, and well-behaved. Ting. Until Margo disappeared the next day, the teenager turned into a teenager, followed the clues left by Margo and together with several friends, embarked on a journey to find Margo for love.
In the process of searching, Quentin faced his friends who had different troubles and hesitations, and became Margo among them, seducing them to skip class, and the friends encouraged him to bravely travel to find Margo. Several people went to the town on the map together. During such a journey, the friends also completed their transformation - Friend A found a dance partner for the graduation party, and Friend B faced his girlfriend more frankly and became the imagined self.
At the end of the film, Quentin bids farewell to his friends who are concerned about the prom. He firmly believes that Margot is in this small town and will continue to stay in the town, while the friends go back to the prom that is not important to him. He really found Margot, and then he realized that he was not important in Margot's heart. The most important thing for Margot was to find the meaning of life. Margot had no love for him.
Quentin persistently confessed to Margot his love for her since childhood, and then chose to leave Margot to return to life. This obsession is a relief from the past and ordinary life planning. In the process of looking for Margo, he did something that he would never have done before - skipped classes and missed the pop-up test, and drove 1,600 kilometers to New York alone with his friends. This is not looking for Margo, but looking for himself, and he also believes that his life is those friends in front of him, his dull life plan, and ordinary life itself.
The film is positioned as a suspense film, but there are not many suspense elements, but more like a philosophical film. In the narrative thread, Margot is responsible for questioning: What is life? Can people only live a mediocre and numb life? The different life trajectories of the hero and heroine respectively answer this question: if there is a pursuit, then set off to pursue it like Margot; or like Quentin, enjoy the current life and accept the arrangements of life, different troubles, different lifestyles are the way life is.
The film begins and ends with the narration of the male protagonist, with a peaceful rhythm. The performance of the theme is based on a group of 16-year-old boys and girls, which is in line with the characteristics of the age, including the depiction of the troubles, doubts and intermittent passion of the children of this age in adolescence. Life and reality, imagine how our 16-year-olds would react to classmates who disappeared for no reason. Maybe after hearing the news, let’s go back to learning. After all, there are not many children with driver’s licenses at this age. There are basically no parents who call the police and do everything possible to get their children back. The situation is different and cannot be compared. There is no particularly strong conflict in the whole film, and there is no intense emotional communication, and the score can be slightly higher as a drama.
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